Isabel Pisano obit

Isabel Pisano, a groundbreaking actress and journalist, dies at 81.

 

She left Uruguay at the age of 18 to earn a living in Spain as an artist and succeeded as a writer and war correspondent.

She was not on the list.

Early Tuesday morning, Uruguayan journalist, writer, and actress Isabel Pisano 's life was cut short at the age of 77. Her death occurred in a nursing home in Majadahonda, Madrid, where she had lived since 2022 due to cognitive decline that was gradually sapping her vitality. The news has caused shock, not only because of the career of a woman who defied boundaries, but also because of the lonely outcome of someone who was always at the center of the action. Only three friends were allowed to visit her in her final years.

WHAT DID ISABEL PISANO DIE OF?

The cause of her death was directly related to the progressive cognitive decline that accompanied her in the final stages of her life. The disease, which severely limited her memory and her ability to self-sufficiency, kept her in a fragile state for three years , until it finally sapped her energy.

Although it was not a sudden death, it was painful due to the contrast between the intensity of his public life and the discreet solitude of his final days. "Diario El Comercio. Todos los derechos reservados."

Journalist, novelist, actress, and war witness, Isabel Pisano navigated a diverse range of settings that seemed impossible to bring together in a single biography . From the film sets of Federico Fellini and Bigas Luna to the trenches of Palestine and Bosnia, her name became associated with extraordinary courage.

At the same time, her intimate life was crossed by two loves that marked her destiny: the Argentine composer Waldo de los Ríos , whom she married, and the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat , with whom she shared a twelve-year relationship. "Diario El Comercio. Todos los derechos reservados."

WHO WAS ISABEL PISANO?

Born in Montevideo in 1948, Isabel Pisano landed in Spain in the 1960s to film “Pampa salvaje” . There she met Waldo de los Ríos , her first great love and husband since 1970. However, tragedy soon struck: the musician's suicide in 1977 plunged her into a personal crisis that she captured in her moving book “El Amado Fantasma” (2002) . The intensity of that bond was a constant echo in her memory, even in her final days at the nursing home, where she sometimes evoked him by calling him “my love” .

Her acting career also left its mark. She was directed by Federico Fellini in Casanova (1976) and by Bigas Luna in Bilbao (1978) , a film that shocked critics with its sexual audacity. Pisano thus cultivated the image of an indomitable and transgressive woman , capable of fearlessly confronting the social prejudices and inquisitive gazes of the time. But her restlessness would soon take her beyond the stage, into territories where the danger was real.

As a war correspondent, her work appeared in media outlets such as RAI and El Mundo. She delved into conflicts in Palestine, Lebanon, Somalia, Bosnia, and Iraq , places where many others preferred not to be. It was in the Middle East that she met Yasser Arafat, leader of the PLO, with whom she maintained a romantic relationship for over a decade . That controversial and passionate story was immortalized in books such as "Alone with Arafat" (1997) and "Yasser Arafat: The Passion of a Leader" (2006) .

Her literary work is equally vast and provocative. With more than 20 publications, she tackled taboo subjects with unusual rawness: prostitution in "I, Whore" (2001) , adapted into a film in 2004, and terrorism in "I, Terrorist" (2004) . In a gesture of pragmatism, she even participated in Big Brother VIP (2005) to resolve financial problems, an experience she described with humor and without regret, confirming her ability to laugh at herself.

However, the end of her life was marked by fragility. Since 2022, she has been admitted to the Majadahonda nursing home due to her cognitive decline. The Community of Madrid assumed her guardianship after declaring her incompetent, which left her under institutional care . In her room, adorned with photographs of Waldo de los Ríos, she participated in workshops and activities that kept her active, although her memory betrayed her. Sometimes she remembered Arafat, other times Waldo, and sometimes she remembered nothing. "Diario El Comercio. Todos los derechos reservados."

Actress

La huella del crimen (1985)

La huella del crimen

7.4

TV Mini Series

Hembra 2ª

1985

1 episode

 

Corridas de alegría (1982)

Corridas de alegría

5.6

Volcaíta

1982

 

Una sombra en la oscuridad (1979)

Una sombra en la oscuridad

1979

 

Trauma (1978)

Trauma

5.4

Eva

1978

 

Àngel Jové, María Martín, and Isabel Pisano in Bilbao (1978)

Bilbao

6.3

Bilbao

1978

 

Florinda Bolkan and Ray Lovelock in The Last House on the Beach (1978)

The Last House on the Beach

5.5

Maid (uncredited)

1978

 

Casanova (1976)

Casanova

7.0

(uncredited)

1976

 

La prima notte di nozze (1976)

La prima notte di nozze

4.3

Gemma (segment 'Eboli')

1976

 

El teatro (1970)

El teatro

TV Series

Olga

1975

1 episode

 

Alfredo Alcón, Luisina Brando, Marta González, and Cipe Lincovsky in Boquitas pintadas (1974)

Boquitas pintadas

6.9

Celina Etchepare

1974

 

Estudio 1 (1965)

Estudio 1

7.9

TV Series

EdithPatro

1967–1970

2 episodes

 

Club de solteros (1967)

Club de solteros

5.6

1967

 

Robert Taylor, Marc Lawrence, and Ron Randell in Savage Pampas (1965)

Savage Pampas

5.6

Lucy

1965

 

Writer

The Life (2004)

The Life

4.2

screenwriter

2004